I Saw the Lord: A Wake-Up Call for Your Heart

by Anne Graham Lotz Narrated by Anne Lotz

Overview

Many of us go though life knowing that God loves us and trying to serve him by going to church, teaching Sunday school, leading youth group, and serving as a deacon. We set aside time to read our Bibles and to pray, and we teach our children to do the same. But some mornings we wake up wondering if we're missing something. We know God with our heads, but we want to know him with our hearts.

We long to see Jesus, but we don't know where to begin.

Like many others, Anne Graham Lotz, the second daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham, has longed throughout her life to see the Lord Jesus, and to know him on an intimate personal level. Born and raised into a prominent Christian family, Anne knows that God doesn't have any grandchildren and that no one can ride into the kingdom of God on their daddy or mommy's coattails. So she has searched God's Word daily for a fresh touch of Jesus.

I Saw the Lord invites you to undertake a journey with Anne, the journey to experience a fresh touch of Jesus by soaking in God's Word. Using the words of Isaiah, Anne shows us what we've been missing and why we need Jesus. She teaches us how we can see Jesus, who Jesus really is, and how to know if we've seen him.

Chronicling her own and others' struggles to grow in faith, Anne shows the difference a fresh touch of Jesus has made in her life and the difference it will make in yours. If you're looking for more than religion and for more than a one-time religious experience, join Anne in reviving your life and in finding a relationship that will last a lifetime.

Editorial Reviews

Anne Graham Lotz, the second daughter of Reverend Billy Graham, knows that nobody can ride into the kingdom of God on their daddy or mommy's coattails. Raised in a prominent Christian family, she knew God in her head but longed to know Jesus on an intimate personal level. In I Saw the Lord, she relates the heartfelt story of her personal conversion in the midst of spiritual plenty.

Publishers Weekly

In this book, evangelist Lotz (Just Give Me Jesus) postulates that it's possible to do everything right-go to church, pray, read your Bible, be involved in ministry-and still lack a "fire of personal revival" in your relationship with God. Exactly what that fire is and how to find it are a bit unclear, although it appears to be a strong emotional pull combined with complete obedience to God. Lotz uses the experience of Isaiah when God appeared to him after King Uzziah's death as an example of revival (at times stretching that story to make it fit her points) and recounts the revival story of a friend who had a life-changing experience at one of Lotz's revival meetings. At times Lotz's reasoning is questionable, as when she assumes that any waning of spiritual emotion is evidence of sin, or suggests that every difficult circumstance is God's way of telling us to "wake up But there's some good basic information on living the Christian life, written with great enthusiasm. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171569990
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	02/21/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

Related Subjects

• Bibles & Christianity
• Religion
• Christianity
• General Christianity
• Christian Life
• Prayer - Christianity
• Spiritual Life - Christian Life

Read an Excerpt

I Saw the Lord
Copyright © 2006 by Anne Graham Lotz
This title is also available as a Zondervan audio product.
Visit zondervan.com/audiopages for more information.
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lotz, Anne Graham, 1948 –
I saw the Lord : a wake-up call for your heart / Anne Graham Lotz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-26287-9
ISBN-10: 0-310-26287-9
1. Bible. O.T. Isaiah VI — Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BS1515.52.L68 2005
242'.5 — dc22
2005030104
This edition printed on acid-free paper.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible:
New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International
Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Other quotations
are from the following sources: the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible
and The Holy Bible, New Living Translation ® (nlt ). Copyright © 1996. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.
The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource
to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on
the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for their content for the life of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means —electronic, mechanical,
photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed
reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc.,
7680 Goddard St., Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.
Interior design by Beth Shagene
Printed in the United States of America

A Wake-up Call
I had been speaking in back-to-back sessions for three days, and that
night I collapsed into bed, dead to the world before my head even hit
the pillow . . .
Eventually the brilliant rays of the not-so-early morning sunlight
coming through the blinds pried my sleeping eyes open. As I lay in
bed, enjoying the warmth under the down comforter, my mind began
to stir before my body did. My first thought was, Why is the sun up so
early? Then my body stirred, and I rolled over to look at the clock. It
said 7:30! For a moment I lay in a stunned stupor — then I hit the floor
with a muffled, “Oh no!”
I was scheduled to lead the final morning sessions of my intensive
seminar at The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove at 8:00! And
the final sessions involved not only my giving a sixty-minute message
followed by a commitment service,
but it also involved my leading
communion for the first time!
Grabbing the clock, I violently shook it and silently demanded, Why
didn’t you go off? Now there’s no time to prepare for all I have to do this
morning! There’s not even time to get dressed! I shouldn’t have relied on
you, you stupid clock! I should have asked for a wake-up call instead!
Have you ever slept through your alarm? Or found out too late that it
didn’t go off because you had mistakenly set it for p.m. instead of a.m.?
I will never forget the sick feeling I had that morning at The Cove when
my alarm, for whatever reason, did not function. I had peacefully slept
on and on and on, oblivious to what time it was.
I have learned the hard way that I need wake-up calls when I’m on
the road in ministry so I don’t miss something important. But from
time to time, I also need them in my own life. The daily routine of
responsibilities, the never-ending challenge of deadlines, the persistent
pressure of problems, and the hectic pace of everyday life tend to preoccupy
my thoughts and time with the urgency of the moment. If I’m not
careful, I may miss something vital that God has for me — something
He may want me to see or do, some blessing He wants to give me or
someone else.
I believe this kind of vital message was delivered during the week
of August 29, 2005. Two days before it made landfall, a category 1
hurricane suddenly exploded into a category 5 over the exceptionally
warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Her name was Katrina, and she
came ashore that Monday morning just east of New Orleans, effectively
eradicating anything and everything for hundreds of miles. The
On more than one occasion, I have heard Coach Landry state that
during his career he came across many good athletes — but very few
great ones. He said the difference between a good athlete and a great
one is eighteen inches — the distance from the head to the heart.
From his observation based on a lifetime of involvement in sports, he
explained that good athletes have exceptional ability and a thorough
36 I Saw the Lord
understanding of the game, but great athletes have heart — a passion
to play that drives them to selfless sacrifice, brutally long hours
of practice, undivided focus, and ultimately, to achieve extraordinary
accomplishments.
In almost thirty years of ministry, I have observed many good Christians,
like Coach Landry’s athletes, but very few great ones. And the
difference is the same eighteen inches — the distance from the head
to the heart. While there are many good Christians
who have a head
knowledge of Scripture, attend church regularly, are familiar with
church traditions and rituals, and are comfortable with prayer, group
Bible study, and outreach ministries, there are very few who are great.
There are relatively few Christians
who are in love with Jesus, who
put Him first in their lives when doing so demands that they sacrifice
their own time, money, and desires. There are very few Christians
who
want what He wants more than what they want — and are willing to lay
everything on the line to pursue it. There are very few Christians
who
are willing to risk their job, reputation, status, friendships, financial
security, and even their life for the sake of sharing the gospel and pleasing
God. We just seem to lack a clear knowledge of God and a passionate
heart for God that, combined, are the hub around which everything
in our life should revolve.
Not only do some of us who call ourselves Christians
lack heart
knowledge of God, we don’t even seem to have much head knowledge
either. We know God’s name and job description — isn’t He the One
who lives in heaven and sends people
to hell? We know Jesus died on
the Cross to save us, but we’re really not sure from what, although we
have prayed and asked Him to come into our heart. And we know going
to church is the right thing to do and makes us feel good. Besides, we
can make nice friends and develop strategic business contacts there.
And spiritual gifts? Aren’t they what we exchange at Christmas?
If we’re honest, even though we’re authentic Christians,
we would
say that although we don’

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